NFL legend John Madden chose the Texans’ offensive linemen for his Most Valuable Protectors Award for their performance in Week 4, when they roughed up the Titans in a one-sided victory.

He’s more likely to offer them Tinactin after Sunday’s woeful showing. Something was wrong with their feet.

The offensive line stunk for most of Sunday’s 42-24 loss to the Packers at Reliant Stadium, unable to block for Arian Foster or protect Matt Schaub, who was sacked three times by a previously mediocre unit.

Going into the game, the O-line had allowed only three sacks all season.

“This game’s a big disappointment,” right tackle Derek Newton said.

“We weren’t the same offensive line as we were last week, clearly, and I know (Madden) would say it’s a disappointment. So we’ve just got to move forward from it – learn from our mistakes, correct them and move on.”

The Texans started the same five players who helped the offense average 31.5 points and 136.5 rushing yards through the first four games – left tackle Duane Brown, left guard Wade Smith, center Chris Myers, right guard Antoine Caldwell and Newton – but they didn’t look like the same group.

“We didn’t run the ball, we didn’t hold up when we needed to, we didn’t make plays in the passing game when we needed to, turnovers – just the total offensive effort (was a disappointment),” Brown said.

Schaub hit the grass twice in the first quarter.

The first came on their first offensive play. Defensive end C.J. Wilson sacked Schaub for a two-yard loss. DE Jerel Worthy then blew by Caldwell on the Texans’ next series, dropping him 10 yards back.

Caldwell left during the second quarter with a concussion and didn’t return. He was replaced by Ben Jones, but nothing really changed.

Schaub went down again on the first possession of the second half.

Linebacker A.J. Hawk lined up opposite the left side of the line, then blitzed through a gaping hole between Myers and Jones on the right, taking him down for a 12-yard loss that forced a punt.

Schaub had been sacked only once in the last four games. He hadn’t been sacked three times in one game since Week 6 of last season, when the Ravens sacked him four times for minus-20 yards.

“Seeing him go down so many times, it felt like we weren’t working hard enough,” Newton said. “But after seeing that, we’ve got to have that mentality that, ‘Oh, he’s not going down any more.’

“We’ve got to push harder and harder on every play, every rep. From here on out, he stays up.”

Foster didn’t fare much better.

He was held to a season-low 29 yards on 17 carries. It was his lowest output in his last 23 games, dating to Dec. 19, 2010, when he carried 11 times for 15 yards in a 31-17 loss against the Titans.

He rushed for both offensive touchdowns, but they came on one-yard runs. His longest run was five yards.

“I can’t really speak on the other guys much, but us up front, we’ve got to take a lot of the blame (for the loss),” Brown said. “We didn’t run the ball the way that we wanted to and we let people get in Matt’s face the majority of the night, and that just can’t happen.”